Upper Midwestern polka bands from the 1940’s – 1970’s. Good time music from the heartland. This is a small portion from a collection of regional polka 78's and LP's.

A few years before this program aired, 05-05-2009, a listener to the radio show called to tell me of a record collection on this new weird thing called Craig’s List (registered trademark). All of the music here is a small portion from that collection of 40+ 78 RPM’s and as many LP’s. North of White Bear Lake, 30 years in the collecting and making we heard music from such push button hot spots as New Ulm, New Prague, St. Cloud, Hastings, Duluth and the Twin Cities themselves. Wisconsin and the Dakotas show up to keep things friendly. The phone really did ring off the hook during this program - it must have hit a regional nerve. The 2 exceptions in this mix were Minneapolis band The Wallets with their freak-out breakdown Gonznoi Polka from 1983. The show ends with one of the funniest mash-ups I know of: Scottish accordionist Sir Jimmy Shand teamed up with rapper 50 Cent.

Please go to the Dig Up The Roots blog for a play list and images.

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